Sled Dog Adventures

The trip to Steamboat Springs ended in grand style today as we headed out early this morning to enjoy my birthday adventure. Emilie had arranged for the whole family to enjoy a morning of mushing with Grizzle-T Dog & Sled Works. Located on a 20,000 acre ranch that serves as open range for cattle during the summer, the setting is perfect for a winter adventure mushing through the snow along the 12 mile trail through the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

Though it was only 25 degrees when we left the hotel this morning, everybody bundled up and headed out, anxious for an exciting trip.

The main guide, Kris Hoffman, is a veteran of the iditarod and runs a kennel of over 100 Alaskan Huskies. He still races and raises dogs that are world class sled pullers.

All of the dogs are "Alaskan Huskies" which is a fancy name for a mutt that has been specifically bred for various traits that make them tireless balls of aerobic energy that love to pull, pull, pull...

The thing that makes Grizzle-T the best option for a mushing adventure is that on their tour, you are the one driving the sled by yourself. Most of the mushing tours allow you to sit in the sled while a guide drives you around the countryside...Boring!! Grizzle-T is the dog sledding version of those baseball fantasy camps that 45 year-old men pay thousands of dollars for the chance to play against their childhood heroes. If you've ever dreamed of experiencing mushing, don't settle for going along for the ride when you can hop on and take control of the sled.

After a 20 minute briefing on how to control the sled, where the brake is and how to get the best picture of your team if you fall off the sled and they are disappearing into the distance, it was time to get ready to go.

As soon as the dogs see the proprietors making preparations with the sleds, they all start howling like crazy in anticipation of hitting the trail. With all of the ruskus, Nova wasn't too sure she was ready for the trip...

...but Juneau was ready to go!!

Once they are on the lines, the dogs are balls of energy just waiting to explode. If not for the sled being tied off to those metal pulls, they would be off and running immediately.

The first group of 4 sleds head out...

As our group of 2 sleds got ready to head out, Nova and mommy bundled into the sled (Nova is still skeptical)...

...but Juneau knew EXACTLY how cool she looked and was more than ready to ride in the front seat.

Loaded and ready...

On the trail...

A quick stop along the way, about 15 minutes into the trip. By this point, Juneau had fallen asleep but Nova was hanging on...(she was asleep about 5 minutes later)

The 12.5 mile trail snaked around mountains, up and down a winding trail, through a canyon and along a ridge that had us looking down onto some low lying clouds in the valley below...

...and eventually through the clouds.

At the few stops along the way, it took all I had to keep the sled stopped. These dogs want to GO!!! I had my entire weight down hard on the metal claw brake, leaning backwards down a hill and the sled would still be slowly (or not so slowly) sliding forward as I strained.

The view of my sled from the pilots stance - Juneau and Nova are out cold...

Juneau out cold and covered from head to toe..(she's actually in the mass of clothes and hats)

Heading for home...the dogs know when they are getting close and start to pick up the pace

Back at base...

The trip was amazing and I can't recommend it strongly enough. I couldn't wait to get home, hug my huskies and start measuring them for their harnesses...they'll be pulling Nova and Juneau up and down the block in no time!!!

The pictures don't do justice to how amazingly cool it was. Even the video doesn't do much better but still a little taste of our adventure...